


Joining the Charge

by IceCreamLover69



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angry Skinner is Angry, Bull's Chargers, Chargers Friendship, Eventual Minor Iron Bull/Dorian Pavus, F/F, F/M, Iron Bull's Chargers - Freeform, M/M, Mother Hen Krem, One-Sided Krem/Original Character, Slow Burn, The Chargers - Freeform, fluff and angst but mostly fluff, like so slow, the slowest burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 12:44:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7640692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceCreamLover69/pseuds/IceCreamLover69
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ella goes from being a simple city elf, to a member of the famous mercenary group, The Chargers, all in the course of a day. How? Templars. It's always Templars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Damned Wagons

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out to Natrice for editing! <3

Ella was running for her life, her feet thudding against the ground, leaves scattering as she raced past, her bare feet threatening to fly out from under her. She risked a quick glance over her shoulder and let a string of curses fly. The Templars were gaining on her fast, and they looked royally pissed. Ella surged forward, hauling up any last reserves of strength to attempt to escape, somehow. And then her feet actually did fly out from under her. “Shit!” Ella hit the ground violently, her shoulder jarring against a rock. It seemed at least a little luck was on her side, she thought, as one of the Templars tripped over her spectacularly, and flew headfirst into a tree. 

“Quickly, grab the Elf!” The second of the three Templars, a burly human man, screamed as Ella attempted to lunge forward and gain momentum. Her attempt was quickly brought to a head, when the third Templar knocked her feet out from under her and brought her to the ground. Ella thrashed around attempting to dislodge the woman, and was slammed back against the ground. 

“Hold still.” Came the quick order from the muscular Templar woman pinning Ella to the ground. Ella winced as the a rock dug into her newly injured shoulder and did her best not to hurt herself further. 

“Well, Shit. What’er we gonna do with the knife ear now that we’ve caught ‘er. It’s not a long walk back, but draggin’ er’ all the way’s gonna be a pain in the ass.” The burly one yelled at the the man who’d tripped over her, who seemed to be in charge of the three. 

“Shit.” Ella thought again. Now she was injured and tired from her crazy escape attempt. It would have been better to have just stood and fought, but here she was. 

“Just kill the bitch,” The Templar in charge replied casually, “What’s the world without one more damn mage? “ He cackled.

“D’ya think that’s a good idea, Ser?” The burly Templar asked hesitantly, shifting his weight from side to side. 

“Are you questioning me, Theodore?” The leader asked harshly, whipping his head around to stare down the young man. ”We’ll just tell the others the damn mage fell and split ‘er head on a rock.” The lead Templar surmised.

Welp. There went her only escape option. Ella wondered if she should fight, attempt to scream, run, or do something other than sit here and wait to die, but it seemed inevitable. So she sat, and waited, and maybe prayed a little. 

Ella didn’t think she had any strength left to be scared, but as the Templar women hauled her up unto her knees, she was terrified. She felt a scream build in her throat and had just started to yell for help, when the Templar and slapped a hand over her mouth and strictly told her to shut it. She could feel her heart thundering in her throat as the poor man who’d at least tried to keep her from getting killed was ordered bash her head in. She shuddered as she heard the blade scratch against the scabbard as it was drawn. She was going to die on her knees all because she’d stopped to help a group of refugees fix a stupid wagon. Damned wagon. Damned Templars. Damned man who’d turned her in for helping them. Damned everything. 

She watched the young Templar, heart thudding in her throat, as he moved forward and raised his blade into position. She closed her eyes and flinched backwards, waiting for the blow, but instead felt the blade slide by her head. 

Ella ripped her eyes open and watched as a huge ass qunari swung an axe into the head of the woman, while a young man with dark hair fought off the Templar in charge. To her left, from the cover of the trees, a Dalish Elf fired shots of magic into the fray, while another young man, this one blonde, faced off against the burly Templar that’d stuck up for her. All in all, it was chaos.

“This is the best chance I’m gonna get,” Ella thought as she struggled onto her feet, only to be knocked flat on her ass by the darker haired young man. 

“Stay down, Miss, you’re injured!” He called out to her in a friendly voice, all while blocking a blow from the Templar asshole in charge. “We’ll get Stitches over to take a look at ya’.” He yelled to her, this time striking a blow to his opponent, who cowered back. 

Ella decided doing as she was told seemed the best option for now, and stayed on the ground while surveying the fight. Not that it was much of a fight anymore, she mused. The qunari had already dispatched his enemy, and the Elf and other young man had easily overpowered their opponent. She watched as the blonde man steadily made his way over to her. 

“Stop playin’ with the poor fool an’ get on with it, Krem!” Blondie snorted. 

“What, you going soft on us now?” The giant qunari goaded, egging him on while following the young man over, towards her. 

“Well, see here boss, I had to protect our damsel in distress from herself!” Krem shouted while bringing the pummel of his sword down on the head of the Templar with a definitive clang. 

“Sounds like a damn excuse!” The qunari laughed, “Now can we get an introduction?” He bellowed, while turning to face her.

“Well,” Krem scoffed “My name is Krem, and this lass here, is our damsel.” He turned and reached a hand out to Ella, who took it, because at least they weren’t try to kill her. She let herself be pulled to her feet and winced when she felt her shoulder. 

“Well, shit, damsel, quite a bruise you've got there.” The qunari mused. “Let Stitches take a look at it, and go ahead and tell us your name, and why a group of rogue Templars felt the need to murder you.” 

Ella looked between the three men uncertainly before the man she guessed was Stitches shooed her to a fallen log to sit, so he could look at her shoulder. “Well,” She started, “My name is Ella. I was on the road, traveling, when I came to a group of,” Ella let out a startled noise as Stitches poured some healing magic into her shoulder. It tickled and hurt at the same time she thought, huh. The young man, Krem, gave her a confused look and then motioned for her to continue. “Refugees, stuck on the side of the road because their wagon wheel broke. So, I wandered over and offered to help them. I told them I knew a small bit of magic and could fix it, so I did, and then one of the men ran to the Templars and turned me in for a reward.” Ella huffed as she finished the story. 

“Well, shit,” Krem started, “So, you helped these people, and they turned you in?” He scoffed, leaning forwards, He was clearly agitated, Ella thought to herself. 

The qunari put a comforting hand on Krem and then turned his head towards her. His eyes bored into hers, like he was looking for something as he spoke. “Name’s The Iron Bull, this is Krem, the Elf over there is Dalish, and the man who patched you up is Stitches. So Ella, now that the introductions are done, I’m wondering, what’re you going to do now?”

What was she going to do? Ella sputtered at the question, utterly unprepared for it. “What am I supposed to do?” She asked. 

“Hell if I know.” The qunari, Iron Bull, answered easily. “I mean,” He restarted, “What are you going to do now that you’ve been outed as a mage,” 

Ella interrupted him at that point, loudly declaring that she was barely even a mage, and only knew household spells, and small things like that, when he silenced her with a pointed look. 

“Even if you’re barely a mage, Templars will likely hunt you down on sight. So, what're you gonna do?” He asked calmly. 

Well, shit, Ella thought. She had no idea how to evade templars. She may have grown up in the city, but most of the Templars there would look the other way for a favor or some coin. She could feel herself getting paler as the blood left her face at the realization she had no idea what to do. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down there!” Krem leaned towards her, putting a comforting hand on her newly healed arm. “I’m sure it will work out.” He said, while aiming a very pointed look at Iron Bull, which confused her. 

Iron Bull rolled his eyes, while his mouth fell into a smirk. “You’ve really gotta stop picking up strays. Krem.” Iron Bull chuckled, “So Ella, you any good at fighting?” 

The question left Ella blindsided again, while Krem began beaming, and Stitches rolled his eyes, muttering about having yet another damn person to stitch up. 

“What?” Was the only reply Ella was able to come up with, while she gestured her hands in front of her, miming using a dagger. “I can use a dagger well enough to not die.” She explained. 

“Good enough for me!” Iron Bull exclaimed loudly. 

“Welcome to the Chargers!” Krem smiled at her. 

Huh?


	2. Meet the Chargers

Iron Bull surged to his feet, and the rest of the Chargers there followed through.

Ella looked up at them, confusion written on her face, as Iron Bull hauled her to her feet.

“The way I see it,” He explained,”Is you can stay here and try your luck with the Templars, or you can come with us and we can teach you how to fight. You can leave after you think you know what you need to, or stick around.”

Well, Ella thought, it sounded like a sound plan, and these people were probably the best chance she had at surviving. “I think, I’ll go with you guys.” Ella decided timidly.

Krem smiled broadly, and Iron Bull clapped her on the back, causing her to stumble forward. “So then, let’s go meet the rest of the crew.” Iron Bull said cheerfully as small group began to hike through the woods, farther away from where Ella came.

They had walked for about 10 minutes, when Krem began to speak to her, “So, ground rules, you’ll have to learn to fight, we all pull our own weight, but always have each others backs, and you don’t piss off the boss. Pretty straightforward.” He stated and then continued to ramble through logistics as he walked beside her.

To be honest, Ella couldn’t care less about ground rules at the minute, her entire life had just been uprooted by a damned wagon and she thought that she was allowed to give her brain time to catch up, rather than attempt to learn everything Krem was throwing her way.

They finally reached the Charger’s camp, and introductions began again. She met Skinner, Rocky, Grim, and Callie, who all eyed Iron Bull while calling out greetings to her. She supposed it was only natural for them to be wary and a bit pissed that their leader just brought in a new and untrained recruit, it would mean extra work for everyone, she thought with some remorse.

Iron Bull stood up suddenly and addressed the Chargers as a whole. “We got a new job in Orlais. Client wants it quite and clean. We’re protecting some rich son of someone important from bandit attacks while he travels to a summer palace. Everyone be ready to move in the morning. And Krem? You and Dalish have two weeks to get the new recruit battle ready. “ He finished with a wink in her direction.

Ella’s eyes widened as she looked at Krem and Dalish in horror. “Two weeks?!” Ella exclaimed.

“Two weeks.” Iron Bull confirmed, while Krem looked nervously at Dalish. She didn’t really blame him for that, but Dalish just shrugged her shoulders and heaved a sigh.

“So newbie, you ready for hell tomorrow?” Ella just gaped at the Elven woman and made a vague nodding motion, while Dalish’s face split into a wide grin. “Go get some food and then some sleep, you’re gonna need it.” She said, an evil inflection in her voice.

Krem, luckily, took pity on Ella and simply handed her the food and directed her to a tent. She managed to scarf down some food before crawling into the tent and passing out. It had been one hell of a day, after all.

If Ella had known the level of training she was about to undertake, she thought she would have run straight away from the Chargers into the Templars waiting arms. They, her new “trainers” that is, had barged into her tent around 4 in the morning. Dalish woke her up with an apple to the head, while Krem simply yelled at her until she was up and ready. When they’d managed to hustle Ella out of her tent and into the heat of the morning, Krem began to take up yelling again, but this time he was yelling at her to double time it around the camp.

“Faster, Damsel!” Krem screamed as she lapped the campsite yet again, sweat dripping down her tunic. Dalish was lapping her. Again.

After Krem and Dalish ran her until Ella felt like she was going to black out, they moved onto sparring and the rest of the camp began to wake. Stitches called out a half hearted greeting to her as Krem managed to get another hit on her, while Dalish yelled something about keeping her guard up. A while later, Ella watched, passed out in the grass while she was allowed a break, as Grim made the rest of the chargers breakfast, and Skinner, true to her name helped by skinning what must have been the morning’s catch. Bull sat near the fire reading over some paperwork, and Callie and Rocky had started to break down the camp. Dalish and Krem, of course, were acting as her personal tormentors.

“Up! Up! What’re you doing on the ground!? You’d be dead by now!” Krem screamed suddenly, shocking Ella out of her musing and onto her feet.

“That’s right!” Dalish encouraged, “Now, keep your damn guard up!” Ella threw her daggers up into a defensive position and watched Krem carefully. She had managed to convince them to train her with daggers, rather than a staff, because it was what she was more comfortable with, and Skinner had begrudgingly giving up two of hers to practise with.

“Guard up!” Came Dalish’s harsh yell and Ella yanked her arms back up, properly chagrined.

She and Krem sparred for a while under Dalish’s watchful eye, until it was time to move out. The three of them tramped back over to what was left of the camp, and helped finish packing up. Skinner brought the horses over and the group began to mount. Shit, shit, shit, Ella thought. She was a city elf, she’d barely even looked at a damn horse before, let alone rode one! At this point, she was staring straight at the large cream colored horse Krem had directed her to, which prompted Iron Bull to ask how much riding experience she had.

“None.” Ella coughed out nervously.

“Oh you’ve got to be shitting me!” Skinner spoke up angrily, “How the hell are we supposed to get to Orlais from the Hinterlands in two weeks, all while teaching someone to ride?” She finished, shooting Ella a dirty look.

Ella shrank back under Skinner’s reproachful look, and wondered the same thing herself.

“We’ll figure it out.” Krem said, as he placed a comforting hand on her arm.

“Just get on the damn horse and don’t fall off.” Came Dalish’s solution.

Ella shrugged and sighed, before moving towards the, frankly, giant horse. She squared her shoulders and muttered, “might as well give it a shot.”

Krem grinned, and moved to help her up, while Dalish held the horse still and the others looked on. Somehow, the three of them managed to get Ella upright on the horse.

“Now what?” Ella asked, wondering if they’d let her take it slow, she doubted it though.

“Just like I said,” Dalish laughed out, “Don’t fall!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Okay guys, that's chapter one! I'll try to update at least weekly! <3


End file.
